MsEverywhere Surely you must know that my tongue was planted firmly in my cheek when I posted the above. The O2K's would never dream of going to a faux Venice. Actually, last time we were in LAS we took a look at the Venetian and were horrified by how cheesy they made "our Venice" look.

If we plan LAS for late April-early May, 2005, we've got time to check several hotel options. As I read the above threads, I see dedehans will check out the Bellagio for rates and MsEverywhere will check out the Aladdin. Anybody else want to volunteer to check out a location?
Once we find out rates for various locations and decide on some Spring 2005 dates, we can start a separate thread on this.

I faxed the group desk at the Bellagio yesterday afternoon re weekend rates for 22-24 April or 29April - 01 May....12 to 20 rooms....

Will post when I know something.....

I would like to direct the attention of this group to the following invitation from paradocs http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=377370

I am crazy about Paradocs and have enjoyed time in San Antonio. Having said that , if our core group is the Venice group than I have a feeling that LAS would be more to their taste.(well, actually, more to my taste).

I love San Antonio, and paradocs is a great hostess :) --- but I will be in LAS that weekend :(

I have been to LAS way more times than I could ever count, but it has always been for work. Maybe going to LAS for fun would be a nice change.

I am up for anything, but here are a couple of my concerns with LAS:

1. Is LAS too much of a stretch for our international visitors?

2. Is it possible to recapture anything close to the intimate "group" feeling that we achieved in VCE? LAS hotels are huge and somewhat overwhelming, maybe a place like San Antonio, New Orleans or Savannah would work better.

3. What trade shows are going on in LAS? LAS can be a real bargain if the timing is right, but major shows can take over the town and drive prices sky high. I will check tomorrow and see what shows are scheduled and for which dates.

I doubt that I will be attending as any flight I make to the States automatically includes a week in FLL, so tacking on a visit to LAS would put far out of my travel budget. Nor would I suggest another FLL Meet -- I think that cities should not be repeated.

San Antonio, I believe, would be O-U-T for Cholula. I am certain he has OD'ed on the city. Savannah, which I have always found to be -- in Punki's words -- "intimate" will no longer hold that attraction for me. Besides, it is not a very convenient city to get to. Only a few airlines fly there. Delta, the largest, seems to offer very little in the way of award tickets in and out.

How about continuing the Venice tradition?

Venice, Florida

Venice, California

Venice, Louisiana

Venice, Illinois

You get the idea...

Venice, Florida has a Hampton Inn. We stay there about once a year. My kids love it because it has free wireless, but I think that might be the only attraction in Vencie, Florida.

How about St. Petersburg, FL? It is a really nice little town, but I guess it takes a rental car to get there.

New Orleans?

Miami Beach?

Washington D.C?

How about holding it in Tampa and everyone staying in MsEverywhere's house?

I have a small 2-bedroom condo with a sleeper sofa in the living room, so it would be a small meeting. I live in a resort community where there are no nice "hotels" very close, but many of the condos in the complex are available for short-term rental.

I would be glad to host a meet in Tampa! My condo is about 20 or 30 miles from the beach, and 12 miles from downtown Tampa and Busch Gardens.

I don't see the problem. Cholula takes the spare bedroom. Canarsie is on the sleeper sofa and that leaves me...you do have a double bed, don't you?

@@ ... and clothing is 'optional', so I heard? :D

Curious, does everyone else enjoy reading MsEverywhere's post just as she leisurely speaks it, or is it just moi? :p

belle
(still in Singapore with very limited internet access)

I always enjoy MsEverywhere's posts but now that I read hers again, I realize that Tampa is not a possibility.

It is near Busch Gardens, so the Demoscrats among us would boycott it.